Monster
by Lif61
Summary: After one of Mia Vallens' patients discovers she's a shapeshifter he holds her captive to get her to do his bidding. Not liking her defiance, he gets an innocent involved, and that's when Mia decides to act, doing something she wished she didn't have to.


**A/N: Written for week four of SPN Hiatus Creations on tumblr. Prompt: Vampires, Werewolves, or Shapeshifters**

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Mia Vallens wasn't sure how, but one of her patients, Brandon, had found out that she was a shapeshifter. It had happened a few days after the Winchesters had left and she had taken care of Buddy's body. During a session he'd attacked her, cut her with a silver knife, and had been able to subdue her. Now she was locked in her office with the middle-aged man with graying hair who had lost his wife recently. He was more unstable than Mia had seen when evaluating him, and realized he'd been most likely lying to her, trying to play it cool. He thought that his wife had been murdered by someone who had used to be his friend, and now, to get back at him, he wanted Mia to shapeshift into him and commit evil acts, making sure she was seen while doing it.

Brandon had stripped down one of the curtains and had ripped it up, using the strips to tie her. She was strong enough to break through her binding, but he had a silver knife on him, and she was already bleeding from the deep wound in her shoulder. Mia wanted to somehow make it out of this safely, and though he'd done this to her, he was still her patient, and she wanted him to be okay.

"I won't do it," she told him.

"Fine," he said, coming over to her wielding the knife. His thin frame was not terribly imposing, but she saw the way he was shaking, saw the sweat on his forehead. He was nervous, angry, so if given a little shove, he had the potential to do something he might regret. Mia still didn't know him all too well, had only met with him for two other sessions, but she had a feeling he was already regretting this. "I'll kill you then," he told her.

"And what would that gain you? Think about this, Brandon. Do you really want to take someone's life?"

"I want justice!" he shouted at her. "But no one is doing anything! That son of a bitch Ryan killed my wife! And the police are just letting him walk."

"Why not go after him?" Mia asked calmly. "You're not dealing with this head on, just like you're not dealing with your grief head on."

"Don't pull that therapist crap on me," he snarled.

"Brandon," she began, "everything's going to be okay. You can just put the knife down and we can talk about this. No one has to get hurt."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to die."

"No, I'm saying it because I don't want you to get in trouble. I want you to be alright. That's why I do what I do. I try to look out for people."

"Sure."

He walked away and started pacing, running his free hand through his already disheveled hair.

"I won't do what you ask, so just kill me."

Mia wasn't scared of death. She had even faced it a few days ago with Buddy when he had wanted her to kill Dean and Jack. She wouldn't have killed them, would rather die, just like she would rather die now.

She knew that Brandon's situation was tough, and maybe Ryan really was responsible, but there wasn't anything she could do about that. It was just her job to talk to people, to make them feel better and not get involved. Getting involved was unprofessional, and given what she was, it could lead to situations like this. She wondered what other shifters would do were they being held captive like this. Surely they'd do what was asked of them, maybe even kill who had started this in the first place to cover up their wounded pride. But Mia's pride wasn't in her abilities as a shifter, or in any violent, sadistic tendencies. Her pride was in removing herself from all of that. Her pride was in using her abilities for good, using them to help people, and in not harming them. Brandon desperately needed help right now, but he didn't need the kind he thought he did.

"Why don't we talk about this?" she asked. "What would you have me do as Ryan?"

Brandon paced a bit, and then sat down on the armrest of the couch near her. He clenched and unclenched his fingers around the knife.

"I want you to kill his wife. I want him to hurt like he hurt me."

"Think about your pain. Do you really want another human being to feel that?"

"Yes!" he shouted, instantly standing, his face going red. "Yes, because it hurts so much, okay? It hurts! And it's his fault. Why shouldn't he feel what I'm feeling?"

"So you want me to kill someone?"

"Yes."

Mia turned her head away from him, showing that she wasn't going to put up with it. "Then no."

"You really want to die, huh?" he asked, coming over to her.

He crouched down and grabbed her chin in one hand as he placed the blade against her neck.

Mia looked into his wild, pained brown eyes, and said, determination in her voice, "Kill me. You'll get nothing from it, only more pain."

The blade dug into her skin as his hand started shaking more, and she winced. However, he didn't seem to be taking her words to heart, so she went on, "If I wanted to I could escape these bonds and snap your neck without even trying. That little silver knife you have couldn't truly stop me if I wanted you dead. But instead, I'm just sitting here. Why do you think that is?"

"Crazy bitch," Brandon muttered, fear in his eyes as he backed away from her. Then, she saw something light up in him. He had an idea, and Mia truly worried about what it was. She liked to think she was in control of the situation, had basically just told Brandon so, but she refused to hurt him, and didn't want to hurt anyone else. He held out the knife, waving it slightly to draw attention to it, and then he placed it in the waistband of his khaki pants. "I'll be back," he told her. "You stay put."

"Where are you going?" she asked, now genuinely beginning to feel worry, not for herself, but for who else he might get involved. "What are you going to do?"

Brandon didn't answer her and left the room. Mia pulled the ripped curtain that bound her apart, and got up to follow him, the blood loss she'd suffered of little consequence to her.

The doors to her office closed, and there was shouting. As she made her way across the room, the doors opened again. Brandon had his arm wrapped around the shoulders of her receptionist, Jin, and his glasses were all askew.

"D-Dr. Vallens, what's happening?" he asked.

"It's okay, just stay calm."

Brandon pointed the knife at her, commanding, "Back! Stay back."

She raised her hands in a placating gesture, taking careful steps away from him. He didn't seem content until she was nearly against the wall.

He turned the knife on Jin, and the Asian American man grasped at Brandon's arms, whimpering with fear. Brandon was slight of build, but he must've worked out, because Jin couldn't pry himself out of his grip.

"Do what I asked, or I kill him."

Mia made eye contact with Jin, who was silently begging for her to do something, and he looked terrified, not understanding any of what was going on. Mia didn't want to have to explain it to him. She gave a little nod, trying to let him know that she'd figure this out, that things would be okay.

"Do you really want two deaths on your hands?" she asked.

Brandon didn't seem to recognize the moral dilemma in her question, instead saw something about her words that she hadn't realized.

"Two deaths. So killing him will get you to do what I want."

She rushed forward as he brought the knife to Jin's throat, and she shook her head desperately. "No, no!"

But Brandon wasn't listening and he began slicing into Jin, who cried out in pain.

Mia lunged at the pair of them, her only thoughts those of protecting Jin, an innocent man who had nothing to do with this. She grabbed the wrist Brandon held the knife with and snapped it with one fierce tug so that his hand was bent backwards over his forearm. Before he could process that, she wrenched at his other arm, letting Jin fall free to the ground. Jin was smart and started crawling away, and as Brandon fell, Mia took his head in her hands. She was furious, fire glowing in her belly, in her chest, and she was seeing the world in a haze of red. No one should hurt another being, no one should want to do it, and least of all because of her. And she wanted to protect Jin, and protect the others that could get dragged into this mess.

She let out a fierce scream and snapped Brandon's neck. His body fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Jin was breathing heavily, and though that had taken nothing out of Mia, she was as well.

The sound of her blood was rushing through her ears, her heart pumping fiercely, and still the world was red.

"Mia?" Jin called softly, breaking through the haze in her mind.

She looked to Brandon's body, his hand bent askew, his neck cracked and twisted so that his head was nearly facing the complete opposite direction as the rest of his body. Mia lifted her hands and gazed at them in horror.

She'd done that.

She'd killed Brandon.

She collapsed, and Jin was at her side. He must've thought her collapse was from the wound in her shoulder because he was pressing a hand to it firmly, causing it to ache, and she let out a weak cry. And then, not caring that he was there with her she started to sob, tears streaking down her face.

She'd killed someone.

She'd actually killed someone.

Maybe she was a monster after all.


End file.
